Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Prognostic implication of serum hepatocyte growth factor in stage II/III breast cancer patients who received
Hyori Kim1, Jeonghwan Youk2, Yaewon Yang2
1Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 101 Daehakro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, 110-799, Korea.
Purpose:
In stage II/III breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a standard treatment. Although several biomarkers are used to predict prognosis in breast cancer, there is no reliable predictive biomarker for NAC success. Recently, the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and cMet signaling pathway demonstrated to be involved in breast cancer tumor progression, and its potential as a biomarker is under active investigation. In this study, we assessed the potential of serum HGF as a prognostic biomarker for NAC efficacy.
Methods:
Venous blood samples were drawn from patients diagnosed with stage II/III breast cancer and treated with NAC in Seoul National University Hospital from August 2004 to November 2009. Serum HGF level was determined using an ELISA system. We reviewed the medical records of the patients and investigated the association of HGF level with patients' clinicopathologic characteristics.
Results:
A total of 121 female patients (median age = 45 years old) were included. Median level of HGF was 934 pg/ml (lower quartile: 772, upper quartile: 1145 pg/ml). Patients with higher HGF level than median value were significantly more likely to have clinically detectable regional node metastasis (p = 0.017, Fisher's exact test). Patients with complete and partial response according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th Edition criteria tended to have higher HGF level (p = 0.105 by t test). Patients with an HGF level higher than the upper quartile value had longer relapse-free survival than the other patients (106 vs. 85 months, p = 0.008).
Conclusions:
High serum HGF levels in breast cancer patients are associated with clinically detectable regional node metastasis and, paradoxically, with longer relapse-free survival in stage II/III breast cancer.
